The writer is the person who stands outside society, independent of affiliation and independent of influence.
Don DelilloRead
At night the sky was very near, sprawled in star smoke and gamma cataclysms, but she didn't see it the way she used to, as soul extension, dumb guttural wonder, a thing that lived outside language in the oldest part of her.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote reflects a shift in perception of the universe, indicating a deeper but perhaps more complex understanding.
In this quote, Don Delillo explores how a profound connection to the universe can change over time. The speaker recalls how the beauty of the night sky once evoked a simple, instinctive wonder, akin to a child's view of the world. However, with maturity and experience, this wonder becomes intertwined with complexity and perhaps a sense of loss, as language and reason complicate the pure emotional response once felt.
Themes
PerceptionUniverseWonderTransformationExperience
In practice
Example use cases
This quote can be shared during a discussion about the changing perspectives on life as we grow older.
More from Don Delillo
All quotes →War is the form nostalgia takes when men are hard-pressed to say something good about their country.
Don DelilloRead
American writers ought to stand and live in the margins, and be more dangerous.
Don DelilloRead
For me, writing is a concentrated form of thinking.
Don DelilloRead
I used to think it was possible for an artist to alter the inner life of the culture. Now bomb-makers and gunmen have taken that territory.
Don DelilloRead
[I]n the American soul there is a lonely individual standing in a vast landscape. He is either on a horse or driving a car, depending, and either way he’s carrying a gun. This is one of the essential images in American mythology.
Don DelilloRead
Similar quotes
The ulterior motives with which you absorb and assimilate Evil are not your own but those of Evil. _x000D_ The animal wrests the whip from its master and whips itself in order to become master, not knowing that this is only a fantasy produced by a new knot in the master's whiplash.
Franz KafkaRead
The true greatness of nations is in those qualities which constitute the greatness of the individual.
Charles SumnerRead
My grandfather was dying, and told the family he had decided to die. ... At that moment I wanted so badly to write and tell him that he was never going to die, that somehow he would always be present in my life, because he had a theory that death didn't exist, only forgetfulness did. He believed that if you can keep people in your memory, they will live forever. That's what he did with my grandmother.
Isabel AllendeRead
Laziness is built deep into our nature.
Daniel KahnemanRead
Human beings must be known to be loved; but Divine beings must be loved to be known.
Blaise PascalRead
The layman always means, when he says "reality" that he is speaking of something self-evidently known; whereas to me it seems the most important and exceedingly difficult task of our time is to work on the construction of a new idea of reality.
Wolfgang PauliRead